From Pitt Athletic Department release
The Pitt Panthers men’s soccer team officially began practicing this week as the program is now entering its fifth season under the tutelage of Head Coach Jay Vidovich.
Kicking things off ⚽️#H2P pic.twitter.com/MTCxohDwhd
— Pitt Men's Soccer (@Pitt_MSOC) August 11, 2020
With the Atlantic Coast Conference still committed to its Fall sports seasons (as of now), the Panthers are hoping to move forward and build on a monumental 2019 season. Last year, Pitt had multiple wins against top five ranked teams during the regular season, made it to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1965, hosted (and won) its first-ever ACC and NCAA tournament games, finishing 10-8-2 overall.
Now, the Panthers look to keep the momentum going as they’ve reloaded its roster in impressive fashion.
ACC Will 'Continue to Follow Process' Toward Playing in 2020 Despite Big Ten, Pac-12 Cancellations https://t.co/sf1LTqbGuZ via @pghsportsnow pic.twitter.com/98TP57MD7t
— Pittsburgh Sports Now (@PghSportsNow) August 11, 2020
Prior to the start of practices this week. Vidovich officially announced the addition of 12 new players, including eight freshman, who are immediately eligible to compete during the fall season.
In addition to the 12 newcomers, three freshmen were added during the spring, but were unable to compete during the spring season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, 15 new players will be eligible to compete for the Panthers this season.
“We are excited about the newcomers that will be joining us,” said Vidovich. This is a really good mixture of experience and players that will bring leadership and maturity for us. We have a lot of young guys who will have the potential to develop into great players and we look forward to working with them and how their talents translate to play in the ACC.”
Lucas Matuszewski, Dominic Reiter, and Louis Spicer joined the team during the spring season.
Reiter earned Gatorade Player of the Year honors for the state of Pennsylvania on June 9 for his performance at Quaker Valley High School in Sewickley, Pa., during his senior campaign. Reiter totaled 55 goals and 23 assists during his final year at Quaker Valley. Spicer, from Cambridge, England, transferred from Maryland and attended Millfield School back home. Matuszewski is a Pennsylvania native, coming from Dallastown High School in York, Pa.
Quaker Valley’s Dom Reiter Named Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year
Of the 12 players joining the Panthers in the fall, three are upperclassmen, including two graduate students and one junior. Nicolas Campuzano and Jasper Loeffelsend each are graduate students, with Campuzano, a Cantrabria, Spain native, transferring from the University of Portland and Loeffelsend joining from Cologne, Germany. Anass Amrani joins Pitt as a junior, hailing from Rabat, Morocco. Raphaël Crivello, a native of Bordeaux, France, joins the squad as a sophomore.
Rounding out the freshman are Luis Lara (Mexico City, Mexico), Bertin Jacquesson (Lorrez-Le-Bocage, France), Brandon Clagette (Atlanta, Ga.), Soshun Shigaki (Tokyo, Japan), Filip Mirkovic (Belgrade, Serbia), Vinicius Belon (Curitiba, Brazil), Luke Peperak (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Nathan Stricker (York, Pa.).
The Panthers head into the 2020 season off one of their best years in school history in 2019.
Pitt earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship for the first time since 1965, hosted and won its first ACC Tournament game with a 2-1 overtime victory over NC State in the quarterfinals and saw six players earn All-ACC recognition. The Panthers ended 2019 with a 10-8-2 overall record and a 4-3-1 conference mark.
Look for more coverage throughout the coming weeks as we continue to closely monitor the program of both Pitt’s men’s and women’s soccer teams as they prepare for the 2020 season. Because of fluid situation with many conferences cancelling its schedules, the University and the ACC will be announcing the 2020 schedule at a future date.
Here’s the full Pitt men’s soccer roster:
# | NAME | POS. | YEAR | HOMETOWN / HIGH SCHOOL | PREVIOUS SCHOOL |
0 | Nicolas Campuzano | GK | Gr. | Cantrabria, Spain / Lleó XII | Portland |
1 | Alexander Steinbach | GK | R-So. | Frankfurt, Germany / International School Frankfurt | |
2 | Jasper Loeffelsend | D | Gr. | Cologne, Germany / Dietrich Bonhoeffer Gymnasium | |
3 | Raphaël Crivello | D | So. | Bordeaux, France / College Emile Zola | |
4 | Bryce Washington | D | Sr. | Atlanta, GA / North Atlanta | Rutgers |
5 | Arturo Ordonez | D | So. | Salou, Spain / Escola Elisabeth | |
6 | Anass Amrani | M | So. | Rabat, Morocco / Royal Morocco Academy of Education | |
7 | Luis Lara | F | Fr. | Mexico City, Mexico / Instituto Educativo Olinca | |
8 | Valentin Noel | M | So. | Niort, France / Lycee de la Venise Verte | |
9 | Edward Kizza | F | Sr. | Kampala, Uganda / Montverde Academy | |
10 | Bertin Jacquesson | F | Fr. | Lorrez-Le-Bocage, France / College Arthur Rimbaud | |
11 | Rodrigo Almeida | M | Jr. | Salvador, Brazil / Montverde Academy | |
12 | Brandon Clagette | F | Fr. | Atlanta, Ga. / Woodward Academy | |
13 | Alexander Dexter | F | Sr. | Brooklyn, NY / Kaiserslautern (Germany) | |
14 | Sito Sena | D | Sr. | Valencia, Spain / SEK | UPV |
15 | Luke Mort | F | R-Fr. | Greensburg, Pa. / Greensburg Central Catholic | |
16 | Lucas Matuszewski | D | Fr. | York, Pa. / Dallastown | |
17 | Louis Spicer | M | R-Fr. | Cambridge, England / Millfield School | Maryland |
18 | Soshun Shigaki | M | Fr. | Tokyo, Japan / Montverde Academy | |
19 | Veljko Petkovic | M | So. | His, Serbia / Maspeth | |
20 | Matt Bailey | M | Sr. | Kent Island, Md / Saints Peter and Paul | UMBC |
21 | Filip Mirkovic | M | Fr. | Belgrade, Serbia / Lab High School for Collaborative Studies | |
22 | Sebastian Serpa | D | R-Fr. | Miami Beach, FL / New Albany | |
23 | Vinicius Belon | D | Fr. | Curitiba, Brazil / Montverde Academy | |
24 | Jackson Walti | M | Jr. | Vevey, Switzerland / Montverde Academy | |
25 | Luke Peperak | F | Fr. | Pittsburgh, Pa. / Connellsville | |
26 | Dominic Reiter | D | Fr. | Sewickley, Pa. / Quaker Valley | |
27 | Anthony Harding | D | R-So. | North Huntingdon, PA / Norwin | |
28 | Nathan Stricker | M | Fr. | York, Pa. / Wilson | |
32 | Arie Ammann | GK | R-Sr. | Round Hill, Va. / Woodgrove | Penn State |
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